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Israeli gas platforms controlled by U.S.-Israeli energy group Noble and Delek 15 miles west of Ashdod in the Mediterranean Sea. June 25, 2015.Reuters

Delek oil exploration spinoff may float shares in Tel Aviv

Navitas Petroleum, which has petroleum and gas exploration rights for 14 sites offshore Louisiana and Texas, may be going public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The process began on Monday when Yitzhak Tshuva’s Delek Group said it had transferred its 50% stake in the company to an investor group led by Gidon Tadmor, chairman of the Delek units Delek Drilling and CEO of Avner, and one of the most powerfuil figures in the Israeliu energy industry. Delek said the Tadmor group was given the stake at no cost but will take over the $25.75 million in outstanding debt it holds. Under the agreement, Delek will get a 5% stake in Navitas if the company goes public at a value of more than $100 million, and has an option to be a 30% partner in any of the energy-exploration projects the company undertakes. Delek Group shares ended down 1.5% at 966 shekels ($249.60). (Eran Azran)

Shefa Yamim eyeing London stock listing

Shefa Yamim, a company exploring for diamonds in the Haifa area based on a 1988 pronouncement made by the Chabad Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, is looking to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM board, TheMarker has learned. The company has retained the services of the Israeli investment bank Aloni Haft to negotiate with potential underwriters and help structure the offering. No timetable has been set. Shefa Yamim’s TASE-traded shares have plunged 80% in the last 18 months, leaving it with a market cap of just 57 million shekels ($14.7 million), but it still trades actively for such a tiny company, mainly among Chabad faithful and energy investors. The company hopes to win a higher valuation by trading on the AIM, a popular platform for global companies engaged in exploration, including for precious stones. Shefa Yamim shares gained 3.6% to end at 1.40 shekels. (Eran Azran)

Perrigo CEO urges Israeli investors to reject Mylan takeover offer

Perrigo CEO Joseph Papa, in Israel this week to lobby the U.S. drug maker’s Israeli shareholders, told Bloomberg News he believed shareholders would reject a $27.1 billion takeover offer by Mylan. “I don’t think one can ever say something is 100%, but we have a very high level of confidence in the fact that our long-term shareholders recognize that this is a bad deal,” Papa told Bloomberg television in Israel. “The financial metrics simply do not work for this transaction.” Israeli investors could be critical to Perrigo’s battle to resist the takeover, which goes to a vote November 12, as they hold about 12% of the stock. Papa and Chief Financial Officer Judy Brown stressed Perrigo’s involvement in Israel, where it employs 1,000 people and is listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and is the second-largest company on the benchmark TA-25 index. Perrigo shares advanced 1.3% to end at 599.90 shekels ($155). (TheMarker Staff)

Shares end down but bonds rally as Bank of Israel holds rate unchanged

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Tel Aviv shares ended lower Tuesday, but bonds rose sharply after the Bank of Israel opted a day earlier to hold interest rates unchanged in the coming months. The benchmark TA-25 index finished 0.7% down at 1,564.49 points, while the TA-100 lost 0.4% to 1,356.63, on thin turnover of 983 million shekels ($254 million). Among big losers, Opko Health ended down 4.4% to 35.20 shekels, Partner Communications lost 3.9% to 18.65 and Nice Systems 2.3% to 221.30. Silicom, which said this week it was delisting from the Tel Aviv Stock Echange and trade exclusively on the Nasdaq, ended down 1.25% at 125.90 shekels. But the Tel-Bond 20, 40 and 60 indices rose as much as 0.36% and the government’s 10-year inflation-indexed Galil bond advanced 0.85% to cut its yield to 0.43%. The 30-year bond jumped 1.72% to a yield of 1.4%. The dollar weakened 0.7% to a Bank of Israel rate of 3.866 shekels.The euro lost 0.4% to 4.2760 shekels (Omri Zerachovitz)

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